To be a
good dog trainer, you need to be self-aware. In other words, you need to
monitor yourself for body-language and verbal cues that you’re unconsciously giving
your dog during training.
Last month, a training buddy was working her
ten-month-old pup on pigeons. She had become concerned that her pup was losing
interest in birds. I suggested she bring the pup cross-wind to the bird so I
could see what was going on. At first, the pup did not pick up scent. As she
tried to work the pup into the scent, I noticed that she’d raised her right
arm, the one holding the check-cord, above her head. As soon as she held the
check-cord high, the pup appeared to get nervous.
I walked over and mentioned that she was holding the
check-cord above her head. The comment surprised her; she had no idea she was
making this gesture. Her pup did fine once she lowered her arm and began to
focus on the pup and not where the bird was. For whatever reason, the pup had
made a negative association with her body-language cue. As soon as she
eliminated this gesture, the pup became more confident around birds.
I have another training buddy who has a bad habit of
stopping when she gets close to the bird. She unconsciously stands still when
she gets to an area where she hopes her dog will point. By stopping, she is
giving a body-language cue to the dog and telling him birds are near. Sometimes,
I find myself nagging her a bit—keep moving, keep moving. It can be a challenge
to keep moving when you want your dog to stop.
With the Bill West method, you learn to be verbally
quiet except for an occasional attention-getting Hey, or Here. Dave Walker
tells a great story about a fellow who came to work dogs with him. Apparently,
this fellow didn’t realize he was talking nonstop to his dog. Dave got a roll
of duct tape, cut a short piece, and put it over this fellow’s mouth. It
literally took duct tape for this fellow to realize how much he’d been talking
to his dog.
It would be great to have a coach in the field to
point out all the goofy things you do of which you are unaware. Since most
trainers train alone, it’s up to you to monitor yourself every time you go
afield.
I catch myself doing goofy things all the time. What
helped me become more self-aware was helping others. As I tried to make my
movements clearer to the person I was helping, I realized that, at the same
time, my movements were becoming clearer to the dog. If you watch a Bill West
or Maurice Lindley DVD (see Resources section), you will notice that their
movements seem slower and more stylized. Good trainers give as few cues as
possible to the dog about what they are thinking.
Every time you go afield, you are communicating to
your dogs. The more you become aware of unnecessary body-language and verbal
cues, the easier it is to eliminate them. Verbal cues are easy to fix with a
piece of duct tape, but body-language cues take real self-awareness. Hmmm . . .
I bet good dog trainers also make good poker players.
